Michael G. Vann

Michael G. Vann (born June 19, 1967) is an American historian who serves as Professor of History at California State University, Sacramento. He teaches a range of world history courses, including 20th century world, Southeast Asia, imperialism, and genocide. His research specializes in the history of the French colonial empire, epidemic diseases such as the Third Bubonic Plague Pandemic, and Cold War era mass violence in Southeast Asia. Vann holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was a student of Tyler Stovall and Edmund Burke III. His dissertation was on the history of white supremacy in French colonial Hanoi. He is a graduate of 'Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawai'i, his home town.

Accomplishments

Vann has won three Fulbright awards, one for doctoral research in France, 1994–1995, and a Senior Scholar award to Indonesia, 2012–2013, and a third as a Senior Scholar in Cambodia, 2018-2019, where he taught history and did research on representations of Cold War era mass violence in Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Indonesian museums. In Indonesia he was a visiting scholar for the History and American Studies departments at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, Java.

He was president of the French Colonial Historical Society (FCHS) from 2008 to 2010.[1] He is a member of a post-1999 wave of historians who adopted a new critical approach to this history of France and its colonial empire.

Vann has published three books: The Colonial Good Life: André Joyeux's Vision of French Indochina,[2] 20th Century Voices: Selected Readings in World History,[3] and The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam.[4][5] Vann was featured on public radio's Freakonomics, speaking about how his research on rat hunting in colonial Hanoi related to the economic concept "perverse incentive".[6] He was interviewed about French colonialism on KUSP's 7th Avenue Project.[7]

He has also published articles on Indonesian history and politics, including the Cebongan Prison raid, 2013,[8] and Lawang Sewu, a Dutch era haunted house in Semarang.[9]

Publications

Books

The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Race, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Graphic History Series). Oxford University Press, New York, 2018. (Co-authored with Liz Clarke)

Instructor's Manual, Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources. 3rd Edition. Bedford/St.Martin's, 2016. (Author)

The Norton Mix: Readings in World and Regional History. W.W. Norton, New York, 2016. (Co-Author and Co-Editor)

Twentieth Century Voices: Selected Readings in World History. Cognella, San Diego, 2012. (Author and Editor)

"The Colonial Good Life:" A Commentary on Andre Joyeux's Vision of French Indochina. White Lotus Press, Bangkok, 2008. (Author and Translator)

Film

"Cambodia's Other Lost City: French Colonial Phnom Penh". Writer and Host. 2014. Jeffrey Dym, director. YouTube

Edited Volumes

"WHAB Focus Issue and Teaching Forum. Making French Connections: France in World History." Guest Editor with Alyssa Sepinwall. World History Association Bulletin Vol. XXVI, No. 1, 2010.

Articles, Book Chapters, and Pamphlets

"A People's History of Surfing" co-authored with Trey Highton. Jacobin, 2022. Jacobin

"Suharto's Old Guard Is Still Calling the Shots in Indonesia". Jacobin, 2022. Jacobin

"Suharto's US-Backed Coup in Indonesia Supplied a Template for Worldwide Mass Murder". Jacobin, 2022. Jacobin

"Tyler Stovall Was a Groundbreaking Historian of Modern France". Jacobin, 2021. Jacobin

"Indonesia Still Hasn't Escaped Suharto's Genocidal Legacy". Jacobin, 2021. Jacobin

"French Urbanism, Vietnamese Resistance, and the Plague in Hanoi, Vietnam, 1885-1930s", Edidted by Mohammad Gharipour and Caitlin DeClercq, Epidemic Urbanism: How Contagious Diseases Have Shaped Global Cities. Intellect Books, 2021.

"The True Story of Indonesia's US-Backed Anti-Communist Bloodbath". Jacobin, 2021. Jacobin

"Teaching Pandemic History During a Pandemic Present". Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, special issue "Pandemic Pedagogy: Reflections on teaching in times of global disruption", 2021. Kyoto Review

"Alexandre Yersin: Plague Conqueror and White Colonizer". Fiction and Film for French Scholars, Volume 11, Issue 1, October 2020. Fiction and Film for Scholars of France

"Colonial Sewers Led to More Rats". Feral Atlas, Stanford University Press Digital, 2020. Feral Atlas

"Microsyllabus: Histories of Epidemic Disease". The Abusable Past, 2020. The Abusable Past

"'And not just the men, but the women and the children, too': Gendered Images of Violence in Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Cambodian Cold War Museums." Suvannabhumi: Multi-disciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Volume 12, Number 1, 2020.

"Tropical Cold War Horror: Penumpasan Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI and the Traumatized Culture of Suharto's New Order." Poshek Fu and Man-Fung Yip, The Cold War and Asian Cinemas (Routledge), 2020.

"Murder, Museums, and Memory: Cold War Public History in Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Phnom Penh." Frank Jacob (ed.), Genocide and Mass Violence in Asia: An Introductory Reader (De Gruyter), 2019.

"Confessions of a Rogue Historian: Why I Wrote a Graphic History of Colonial Hanoi." Fiction and Film for French Scholars, Volume 9, Issue 3, March 2019. Fiction and Film for Scholars of France

"Book raids, Red-baiting and culture wars in the Indonesian presidential election." The Asia Dialogue, February 21, 2019. The Asia Dialogue

"Will French History Finally Engage Intersectionality?" in "Race, Racism, and the Study of France and the Francophone World Today." H-France Salon, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2019. H-France

"Suharto's Shadow Still Lingers in Indonesian Museums." The Diplomat, February 6, 2019. The Diplomat

"Emotion and ambiguity in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum," The Asia Dialogue, January 8, 2019. The Asia Dialogue

"Jakarta, 1968: The Party's Over." World History Bulletin special issue on "The Long Global Sixties," Vol. XXXIV, Nos. 1-2, 2018.

"(Colonial) Intimacy Issues: Using French Hanoi to Teach the Histories of Sex, Racial Hierarchies, and Geographies of Desire in the New Imperialism." World History Connected, October 2018. World History Connected

"American Historical Presidential Biography: Tyler Stovall." American Historical Association Presidential Address Booklet, 2018. American Historical Association

"Sex and the Colonial City: Mapping Masculinity, Whiteness, and Desire in French Occupied Hanoi." Journal of World History, Vol. 28, Nos. 3 & 4, 2017.

"'Blame it on the Casbah:' The White Male Imperialist Fantasies of Duvivier's Pépé le Moko." Fiction and Film for French Historians: A Cultural Bulletin, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 2017. Fiction and Film for Scholars of France

"Société colonial et accomodations: entre réalités et representations" co-authored with Jean-François Klein and Micheline Lessard in Dominique Barjot and Jean-François Klein. De l'Indochine colonial au Việt Nam actuel (Magellan & Cie.), 2017.

"Call Five-O a White Male Imperialist Fantasy: Steve McGarrett as a Vision of American Cold War Masculinity, Race, and Empire" in Lori McGuire (ed.), Entertainment Television and the Cold War, (Cambridge Scholars), 2016.

"Paris–Dakar in Reverse: Colonial and Post-Colonial Urban Histories, Roundtable Reflection on the Past and Future of French Urban History." Co-authored by Ellen Wurtzel, Jeff Horn, Catherine Clark, and Michael G. Vann, Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, 2016.

"Comparative History of Genocide in Southeast Asia: Using Cambodia and East Timor in Asian Civilizations and World History Survey Courses." Education About Asia, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2015.

"When the World Came to Southeast Asia: Malacca and the Global Economy." Education About Asia, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2014.

"Haunted house, haunted history: Visitors to Semarang's Lawang Sewu find competing narratives of history, memory and popular culture." Inside Indonesia, July 1, 2013. Inside Indonesia "Shadow Puppets and Special Forces: Indonesia's Fragile Democracy." The Diplomat, June 14, 2013. The Diplomat

"Hanoi in the Time of Cholera: Epidemic Disease and Racial Power in the Colonial City" in Laurence Monnais and Harold J. Cook (eds.), Global Movements, Local Concerns: Medicine and Health in Southeast Asia (National University Singapore Press), 2012.

"The Dark Side: French Men Becoming Monsters in Algeria." French and Film forFrench Historians: A Cultural Bulletin, Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2012. Fiction and Film for Scholars of France

"Fear and Loathing in French Hanoi: Colonial White Images and Imaginings of 'Native' Violence" in Martin Thomas (ed.) The French Colonial Mind: Violence, Military Encounters, and Colonialism (University of Nebraska Press), 2011.

"Teaching Colonialism in World History: The Case of French Indochina." World History Bulletin, Vol. XXVI, No. 1, 2010.

"Of Pirates, Postcards, and Public Beheadings: The Pedagogical Execution in French Colonial Indochina" in a special issue of Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques dedicated to colonial violence in the French empire, 2010.

"Placing East Timor on the Syllabus: Pedagogical Strategies for Teaching East Timor in University Level World History Survey Courses" in Michael Leach, Nuno Canas Mendes, Antero B. da Silva, Alarico da Costa Ximenes and Bob Boughto (eds.), Hatene kona ba/ Compreender/ Understanding/ Mengerti Timor-Leste (Swinburne Press), 2010.

"Caricaturing 'the colonial good life' in French Indochina." European Comic Art, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2009.

"Building Whiteness on the Red River: Race, Power, and Urbanism in Paul Doumer's Hanoi, 1897-1902" in a special issue of Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques dedicated to French colonial urbanism, 2007.

"White Blood on Rue Hue: The Murder of 'le négrier' Bazin." The Proceedings of the Western Society for French History Vol. 34, 2006.

"Of le Cafard and Other Tropical Diseases: Perceived Threats to White Colonial Culture in Indochina" in Jennifer Yee (ed.), France and 'Indochina:' Cultural Representations (Lexington), 2005.

"'All the World's a Stage', Especially in the Colonies: The Hanoi Exposition of 1902" in Martin Evans & Amanda Sackur (ed.), Empire and Culture: The French Experience, 1830-1940 (Macmillan/Palgrave Press), 2004.

"The Third Republic and Colonialism, 1870-1918." 2004.

"The Colonial Exhibition of May, 1931." 2004.

"Of Rats, Rice, and Race: The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre, an Episode in French Colonial History." French Colonial History, 2003.

"The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly: Variation and Difference in French Racial Thinking in Colonial Vietnam" in Tyler Stovall & Sue Peabody (ed.), The Color of Liberty: The History of Race in France (Duke University Press), 2003.

"The Colonial Casbah on the Silver Screen: Using Pépé le Moko and The Battle of Algiers to Teach Colonialism, Race, and Globalization in French History." Radical History Review, April 2002.

"The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly: Variation and Difference in French Racial Thinking in Colonial Indochine." Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, 1998. Winner of the Gargan Prize.

"Contesting Culture and Defying Dependency: Migration, Nationalism, and Identity in Late-Nineteenth-Century Hawaii." Stanford Humanities Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1997.

Podcasting and Radio

New Books in History

Vann has been a host for New Books in History, a channel on the New Books Network, since 2019. His guests have ranged from Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient Viet Thanh Nguyen to dirtbag left podcaster Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House.

New Books in History
TitleAuthor(s)/Guest(s)Air DateLink to Episode
The Skull of Alum Bheg: The Life and Death of a Rebel of 1857Kim A. WagnerOctober 7, 2019New Books Network
Rubber and the Making of Vietnam: An Ecological History, 1897-1975Michitake AsoOctober 11, 2019New Books Network
Footprints of War: Militarized Landscapes in VietnamDavid BiggsOctober 31, 2019New Books Network
Beyond the Asylum: Mental Illness in French Colonial VietnamClaire EdingtonNovember 13, 2019New Books Network
Vietnam's American War: A HistoryPierre AsselinNovember 18, 2019New Books Network
Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a MassacreKim A. WagnerJanuary 15, 2020New Books Network
My Lai: Vietnam, 1968, and the Descent into DarknessHoward JonesFebruary 7, 2020New Books Network
Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of WarViet Thanh NguyenMay 28, 2020New Books Network
Peace on Our Terms: The Global Battle for Women's Rights After the First WorldMona L. SiegelJune 15, 2020New Books Network
Empire in Waves: A Political History of SurfingScott LadermanJune 19, 2020New Books Network
Buried Histories: The Anticommunist Massacres of 1965-1966 in IndonesiaJohn RoosaJune 24, 2020New Books Network
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our WorldVincent BevinsJuly 1, 2020New Books Network
Reconsidering Interpretation of Heritage Sites: America in the Eighteenth CenturyAnne LindsayAugust 4, 2020New Books Network
World History through Case Studies: Historical Skills in PracticeDavid EatonAugust 24, 2020New Books Network
Subversive Seas: Anticolonial Networks across the Twentieth-Century Dutch EmpireKris AlexandersonSeptember 14, 2020New Books Network
Witness to the Age of Revolution: The Odyssey of Juan Bautista Tupac AmaruCharles F. WalkerOctober 12New Books Network
The 'Silent Majority' Speech: Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, and the Origins of the New RightScott LadermanOctober 22, 2020New Books Network
The Murder of Emmett Till: A Graphic HistoryKarlos K. HillOctober 27, 2020New Books Network
Cocaine and Surfing: A Sordid History of Surfing's Greatest Love AffairChas SmithNovember 6, 2020New Books Network
In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese CenturySebastian StrangioNovember 23, 2020New Books Network
Asian Place, Filipino Nation: A Global History of the Philippine Revolution, 1887-1912Nicole CuUnjieng AboitizDecember 9, 2020New Books Network
Thai Stick: Surfers, Scammers, and the Untold Story of the Marijuana TradePeter Maguire and Mike RitterDecember 23, 2020New Books Network
The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and ReasonMatt Christman, et al.December 24, 2020New Books Network
Albert Camus: A Very Short IntroductionOliver GloagJanuary 13, 2021New Books Network
Feral Atlas: The More-than-Human AnthropoceneAnna L. TsingJanuary 22, 2021New Books Network
Coup, King, Crisis: A Critical Interregnum in ThailandPavin ChachavalpongpunJanuary 27, 2021New Books Network
You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of WarElizabeth BeckerMarch 10, 2021New Books Network
Epidemics and the Modern WorldMichell L. HammondMarch 27, 2021New Books Network
Sulfuric Utopias: A History of Maritime FumigationLukas Engelmann and Christos LynterisMarch 26, 2021New Books Network
Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction LouisianaBrian K. Mitchell, Barrington S. Edwards, and Nick WeldonApril 12, 2021New Books Network
Lenin Lives!: Reimagining the Russian Revolution 1917-2017Philip CunliffeApril 22, 2021New Books Network
The CommittedViet Thanh NguyenApril 29, 2021New Books Network
Political Violence in Southeast Asia Since 1945: Case Studies from Six CountriesEve Monique Zucker and Ben KiernanJune 29, 2021New Books Network
Republicanism, Communism, Islam: Cosmopolitan Origins of Revolution in Southeast AsiaJohn SidelJuly 13, 2021New Books Network
Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video GamesAlyssa Goldstein SepinwallJuly 22, 2021New Books Network
Making WavesBuzzy KerboxAugust 11, 2021New Books Network
Militarizing Marriage: West African Soldiers' Conjugal Traditions in Modern French EmpireSarah J. ZimmermanAugust 20, 2021New Books Network
The End of the End of History: Politics in the Twenty-First CenturyAlex Hochuli, George Hoare, and Philip CunliffeSeptember 3, 2021New Books Network
Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & RebellionWorking Class History CollectiveOctober 8, 2021New Books Network
Imperial Nostalgia: How the British Conquered ThemselvesPeter MitchellOctober 14, 2021New Books Network
The Cinema of Rithy Panh: Everything Has a SoulLeslie Barnes and Joseph MaiOctober 15, 2021New Books Network
Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic NovelDavid Lester with Marcus Rediker and Paul BuhleNovember 10, 2021New Books Network
On Tyranny Graphic Edition: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth CenturyTimothy SnyderNovember 16, 2021New Books Network
Hinge Points; A Podcast about Historical ContingencyMatt Christman and Daniel BessnerNovember 23, 2021New Books Network
Citizen Cash: The Political Life and Times of Johnny CashMichael Stewart FoleyFebruary 2, 2022New Books Network
One Man's Terrorist: The Political History of the IRADaniel FinnFebruary 10, 2022New Books Network
Breathe: A Life in FlowRickson Gracie and Peter MaguireMarch 24, 2022New Books Network
World War II in Southeast Asia: Economy and Society under Japanese OccupationGregg HuffApril 15, 2022New Books Network
Vaccine: The Human Story; A Chat with Historian and Podcaster Anne KellyAnne KellyJuly 8, 2022New Books Network
Debating the Woman Question in the French Third Republic, 1870-1920Karen OffenJuly 14, 2022New Books Network
The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France: The Sins of SilenceItay LotemAugust 5, 2022New Books Network
Feminism's EmpireCarolyn L. EichnerAugust 10, 2022New Books Network
Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of TransportationParis MarxAugust 16, 2022New Books Network
Armed Citizens: The Road from Ancient Rome to the Second AmendmentNoah ShustermanSeptember 30, 2022New Books Network
Ghost Stories for the End of the World; A History Podcast about ConspiraciesMattOctober 10, 2022New Books Network
Escaping Slavery: A Documentary History of Native American Runaways in British North AmericaAntonio T. BlyNovember 21, 2022New Books Network
"The Galactic Vietnam: Technology, Modernization, and Empire in George Lucas's Star Wars"Daniel ImmerwahrDecember 10, 2022New Books Network
Postcolonialism and Migration in French ComicsMark McKinneyDecember 24, 2022New Books Network

Guest appearances

Vann has also been interviewed on many programs regarding his work.

Guest Appearances
TitleProgramDateLink to Interview
"His Academic Excellency Paul Kagame at Sacramento State University?"KPFA Weekend News2011
"Episode 9: Perverse Incentives"The Invisible Hand with Matthew Lazin-Rydaer, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation2012
"Our Man in Hanoi: Historian Mike Vann"The 7th Avenue Project: Thinking Persons' Radio, KUSP20127th Avenue Project
"The Cobra Effect"Freakonomics Radio, National Public Radio2012Freakonomics
"Traveling to Vietnam: What Changed?"Chopsticks Alley2017Chopsticks Alley
"The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre of 1902 Did Not Go as Planned"Atlas Obscura2017Atlas Obscura
"The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt – Bringing SEAsian History to Life"ThinkTech Hawaii2017ThinkTech Hawaii
"French Rats in Hanoi: The Effects of French Colonial Rule in Vietnam"Chopsticks Alley2017Chopsticks Alley
"Paranoia di Balik Pembatasan Akses WNA ke Museum TNI" ("The Paranoia Behind Restricting Foreigners' Access to the TNI Museum")Tirto.ID2018Tirto.ID
"Gendering Narratives of Cold War Violence in Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Cambodian Museums with Michael Vann"Southeast Asian Crossroads, Center for Southeast Asia Studies, Northern Illinois University2018SoundCloud
"Interview with Michael G. Vann, Professor of History, Sacramento State University, author of the new graphic history, The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam"World History Connected2018World History Connected
"Episode 42: The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt"On Top of the World2018On Top of the World
"The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt with Michael G. Vann"Southeast Asian Crossroads, Center for Southeast Asia Studies, Northern Illinois University2018SoundCloud
"Author Michael Vann on Hanoi's Infamous Colonial Rat Hunt"Urbanist Hanoi2019Saigoneer
"The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt"New Books in French Studies2019New Books Network
"The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: The mass murder of rats that rocked colonial Hanoi"Chào Hanoi2020Chào Hanoi
"What a Failed Rat Hunt Says about Colonialism"Constant Wonder, BYU Radio2020BYU Radio
"The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: A Conversation with Michael G. Vann"Made in China Journal2020Made in China Journal
"Rats: the planet's most tenacious survivors with a lot to teach humanity"Ideas: Radio for the Mind, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation2020CBC
"Great Hanoi Rat Hunt with Michael Vann"Infectious Historians2020Infectious Historians

Athletic achievements

Hailing from O'ahu, Hawai'i, Vann is an accomplished surfer who frequently travels to Indonesia. He holds a 4th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He has taught Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Santa Cruz, California for Claudio França BJJ, Kaijin MMA, and Garth Taylor Jiu-Jitsu. He also taught Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Hanoi BJJ in Vietnam and Kingdom Fight Gym in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

References

  1. "French Colonial Historical Society |". www.frenchcolonial.org. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  2. Michael G. Vann (2008-12-01). The Colonial Good Life: Commentary on Andre Joyeux's Vision of French Indochina (English and French Edition): Michael G. Vann, Joel Montague, Andre Joyeux: 9789744801425: Amazon.com: Books. ISBN 978-9744801425.
  3. Vann, Michael (2013). Twentieth Century Voices: Selected Readings in World History (Revised ed.). ISBN 978-1-62131-232-1.
  4. Michael G. Vann and Liz Clarke (2018-06-01). The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam: Michael G. Vann, Liz Clarke: 9780190602697. Graphic History Series. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-060269-7.
  5. Ivan Franceschini and Michael G. Vann (20 August 2020). "The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: A Conversation with Michael G. Vann". The Made in China Journal. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  6. Dubner, Stephen. "The Cobra Effect: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast". Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  7. "Show for Sept. 9, 2012. Our Man in Hanoi:... - The 7th Avenue Project: Thinking Persons' Radio". The 7th Avenue Project. 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  8. Vann, Michael. "Shadow Puppets and Special Forces: Indonesia's Fragile Democracy". The Dipolmat. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  9. Vann, Michael. "Haunted house, haunted history". Inside Indonesia. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
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